THATCHER'S SON GOT RICH HELPING SAUDIS BUY ARMS, PAPER REPORTS

Ray Moseley, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Mark Thatcher, son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, made a financial fortune by helping to fix a British arms deal with Saudi Arabia while his mother headed the government, the Sunday Times reported.

The British newspaper said it had learned of Thatcher's role partly from transcripts of telephone conversations alleged to have been taped by Saudi intelligence agents. The transcripts, it said, were supplied by Mohammed Khilewi, a former Saudi diplomat who defected in New York five months ago and has been given political asylum in the United States.

Khilewi was reported to have said the transcripts were given to him by colleagues who, like him, were disillusioned with the Saudi government.

The Sunday Times said Sir Clive Whitmore, a Ministry of Defense senior official, went to the prime minister while the arms deal with Saudi Arabia was being negotiated to warn her that her son's involvement was putting the deal at risk. But it said she ignored the warning and quoted one source as saying: "When it came to Mark, she was blind."

According to the newspaper, Mark Thatcher went on to receive an $18 million commission from the Saudis for his part in brokering the deal.

Robin Cook, the Labor Party's trade spokesman, called Sunday for a full public inquiry to determine if the former prime minister used her public office to promote her son's private fortune.

For years mystery has surrounded the way in which Mark Thatcher suddenly acquired great wealth in the 1980s, when his mother was in office. He repeatedly has refused to answer journalists' questions about the subject but is reported to have told friends he made his fortune offering "financial services."

The Sunday Times said Thatcher, now living in Dallas with his Texan wife, Diane, declined to comment on its report. His mother, now Lady Thatcher, also has made no comment.

The report comes as Lady Thatcher is preparing to appear at the annual Conservative Party conference to be held this week. The party has been rocked recently by a series of allegations of sleaze involving party and government officials.

The arms deal in which Mark Thatcher was reported to have been involved concerned the sale of $30 billion worth of jet fighters, naval mine-hunters and ammunition to Saudi Arabia. At the time, it was called "the arms deal of the century" by the British media. Britain won the deal in stiff competition with France.

The Sunday Times said Thatcher was one of a group of people who helped broker the deal, and who received among them a $360 million commission from the Saudis. It said his share was $18 million.

The transcripts it cited, purported to be of telephone conversations among people on the Saudi side of the transaction, referred to Thatcher as a man with "excellent connections" and one having "influence with the government."

The Sunday Times quoted Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi as saying that Mark Thatcher's value to the Saudis during the negotiation was that he could go to his mother and get an answer to any question they raised.